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Starlight Glimmer
The (unofficial) newbie of the Mane Cast. Starlight Glimmer was the Big Bad of Season 5, featuring in both the premiere "The Cutie Map" and the finale "The Cutie Re-Mark." As a foal, Starlight's only friend was a colt named Sunburst, but when he got his cutie mark and moved away, Starlight felt abandoned and lonely, and became convinced that cutie marks only brought pain and unhappiness. As an adult she became the leader of a small village where she convinced the residents to give up their cutie marks, as equality was the key to true friendship. Twilight and her friends freed the village and returned their cutie marks, but Starlight escaped and plotted revenge. Using an advanced time travel spell to go to the past, she stopped Rainbow Dash from performing her first Sonic Rainboom, the event that caused the Mane Six to all get their cutie marks at the same time. However, undoing this caused time to unravel, creating various parallel timelines where villains the Mane Six had defeated threatened Equestria. Realizing how important the group's friendship was to Equestria, Starlight surrendered to Twilight. Twilight was intrigued by Starlight's magical prowess and took her on as her student, and she became a recurring character in Season 6, living with Twilight in her castle as she learns about the magic of friendship. Following her saving Equestria from Queen Chrysalis and reforming the changeling race at the end of the season, Twilight declared her to have graduated in Season 7, but Starlight wasn't ready to leave behind her new life and friends in Ponyville and decided to keep living with Twilight. Along the way, she's reunited with Sunburst and rekindled their friendship, made friends with Twilight's two-time rival Trixie, and bonded with Pinkie's sister Maud. She also made the Pillars of Old Equestria realize the mistake they'd made when the Pony of Shadows, real name Stygian, was misunderstood, and rescued him from the shadows.In Season 8, Twilight enlists her as the Guidance Counselor for her Friendship School. Events in Season 9 make her officially the Headmare of the school, and the Time Skip in the Finale show her still running the school. Character Development and design Starlight Glimmer has a similar color scheme and name to Evening starlite and a similar color scheme to the non-siren forms of Aria Blaze. She has a lilac coat, a purple and teal mane and tail, and a cutie mark of a purple and white star with two blue glimmering streams—sometimes concealed by a fake equal sign. Part of her real cutie mark is similar to the compass rose cutie mark of "South Pole", of Léon, usually of Prince Blueblood, sometimes of Blue Moon, and in some material of Friends Forever 13 Unnamed Stallion - Doctor. Her name follows the same pattern as Twilight Sparkle, Sunset Shimmer, and Starbeam Twinkle and includes the name of G1 Starlight. The book The Art of Equestria reveals that Starlight's mane was originally just two shades of purple. According to director Jim Miller, Starlight "has a talent for magic as well and is a proto-Twilight character. Her colors parallel Twilight Sparkle's for that reason." Her page also reveals different mane styles that were tried out for her, including one similar to Rainbow Dash. In mid-February 2015, Miller was asked regarding Starlight Glimmer's resemblance to Evening starlite and replied about him having no idea who Evening starlite is and them being not the same as far as he can tell.1 Later in the same month, he stated that Starlight Glimmer's name is not "Mayor Marx" or variations thereof,23 was asked in reply, "What is it? Or is that still classified?" and replied back, "You'll find out once the episode airs!"4 Jim Miller teased on Twitter that Starlight might return in a future episode.5 Her return was confirmed at Comic-Con 2015.6 According to Miller, Starlight was originally named "Aurora Glimmer", but this was changed due to Disney's trademark on the name "Aurora",7 which is the name of the princess heroine from their 1959 film Sleeping Beauty and its related materials. Despite this, Zapp is a princess named Aurora, Aurora Muffin's name includes "Aurora", and Hasbro previously also managed to use "Aurora" as part of the name of G3 pony Aurora Mist. According to Twitter conversations with Jim Miller, introducing Starlight and making her a new main character were the crew's idea that Hasbro had to approve,8 Starlight being added to the show isn't a result of Sunset Shimmer's popularity,9 Starlight is a recurring character,10 and "SL" is "a protagonist like TS" and unlike Trixie.11 Regarding "what say" Josh Haber "had in Starlight's role in S6 and if having to re-introduce her as a protagonist was difficult", Haber stated, "I helped come up with stories about her. The hard part wasn't the reformed villain stories. It was what to do after them."12 In the season six premiere, Starlight begins sporting a new mane style; Miller stated regarding this change, "The other one made her look older and matronly. Also, it symbolized who she USED to be."13 On October 23, 2017, Josh Haber stated on Twitter that Starlight Glimmer was a latch-key-kid.14 Meghan McCarthy and M. A. Larson created the concept for the character while Kora Kosicka did the final design.15 In late August 2018, Jim Miller stated regarding Starlight, "There was never an intention to have her be the 7th member of the group (that honour belongs to Spike). From our standpoint, her purpose has always to be more of a longer arc about what it takes to earn redemption. It doesn’t just happen and things are a-ok. You have to work..."16 "...at it every day. And some days you fall short. That’s why she’s more often than not with TS and not a full teacher. She’s still learning and growing, and IMO, that and her past experience is what makes her great for the counsellor position."17 In early October 2018, after five instances of Starlight wearing a dress—The Cutie Re-Mark - Part 2, Template:Comic's Fried Pie cover, Panini My Little Pony magazine comic Le concours de Rarity's18 use of fanart,19 toys' Runway Fashions, and Template:Comic's pages 2-3 preview—Miller was asked, "Recently, I started to realize that Starlight Glimmer hasn’t been seen wearing any kind of dress, such as one for the Grand Galloping Gala. Would you guys be interested in giving Starlight a dress at some point?" and replied "If the story required it, we’d happily give her a dress."20 Personality When initially introduced, Starlight Glimmer is openly friendly and welcoming, both toward the Mane Six and her followers. She is also somewhat of a disciplinarian, issuing punishment to those who do not conform to her philosophies. However, she later adopts a more callous and ill-tempered persona, desperate to keep up appearances and dismissing any concept of friendship that isn't the same as her own. She is also quite disrespectful, even to royalty, as shown when she furiously silences Twilight when she tried to explain how differences can make friendships stronger. In the season five finale, Starlight harbors a bitter grudge against Twilight Sparkle, mocking and belittling her attempts to stop her from altering the past. Her contempt for cutie marks is revealed to be a result of losing her childhood friend Sunburst when he gained his, giving her a distorted conception of "equality". When Starlight finally realizes how friendship is enriched by ponies' differences, she adopts a remorseful, friendlier, and overall happier side. In the season six premiere, she is portrayed as timid and easily unnerved, especially when it comes to the prospect of reuniting with Sunburst. In the finale, Starlight demonstrates an aversion to being in a leadership role due to her past actions, though she proves to have a natural talent for it and eventually overcomes her fears. From season seven onward, Starlight is more confident in herself and her ability to be a good friend. In Rock Solid Friendship, she displays a keen knowledge and interest in kites. She is also sarcastic at times. Starlight is frequently shown to be overly reliant on her magic to solve problems or accomplish tasks, and has a tendency to not think her plans through. She starts to overcome these faults over time and learn from them, to the point where she is the only one who questions the risks of undoing Star Swirl's limbo spell. She also has some temper issues, demonstrated in All Bottled Up, A Matter of Principals, and A Horse Shoe-In, causing her to sometimes lash out or use magic without thinking. According to Cozy Glow in School Raze - Part 1, "Starlight can't stand mustard." In her role as School of Friendship guidance counselor, Starlight shows extreme dedication to her students, including allowing them to come to her at any time in Student Counsel. Category:My Little Pony friendship is magic characters Category:Females